Feed mechanism for printing-presses.



C. M. KNEPPLER.

FEED MECHANISM FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

1,142,786. APPLICATION FILED APR. 1, I9I4. Patented-June 8 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

W/T/VESSES A TTOR/I/E I THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTC-LITI'KL. WAsHINGmN. u. M-

C. M. KNEPPLER. FEED MECHANISM FOR PIRINTING- PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I, I914. 1,142,786.

Patented June 8, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- WITNESSES W THE NORRIS PETERS CO., FHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON, D. c.

uni earns e i t CHARLES M. KNEIPPLER, OF NEW" YORK, N. Y.

rnnn Mncnnnisnron rninrnve-rnnssns.

masses.

' resident of New York, borough of Brookapart, and

mechanism, as

ning so-called cylinder presses,

speed of the sheet.

vlyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have made and invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Mechanism for Printing-Presses, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to feed mechanism of a type suitable for supplying paper to printing presses, and especially to fast runin which the delivered by hand, sheet by sheet,

paper is to the feed mechanism. Such a press is described in my Patent No. 953,273, dated March 29th, 1910.

The object of my present invention is to improve the feed mechanism with a view to simplifying the same, and to provide improved means for controlling the varying speed of the sheet from the time it leaves the feeders handsuntil it reaches the impression cylinder. I

More particularly stated, I seek to give the sheet, upon leaving the operators hands, first a rapid speed, then a much slower speed in order to allow the sheet to properly adjust itself, and finally to release the sheet in order that it may partake of the speed of rotation of the cylinder. Tn accomplishing these results, I employ a composite supporting rack provided with slats spaced a number of movable tapes alternated with the slats of the rack, and mechanism for raising and lowering one end of the rack in order to lift the sheet resting partially upon the rack, thus checking the This being done, the sheet is fed slowly forward until caught by the grippers carried by thecylinder.

In my improved mechanism the composite rack takes the place of the sectional table sometimes used heretofore for partially supporting the paper during ltS travel, but instead of having supporting tapes move bodily upward and downward as has been done heretofore, I move the composite rack, in order to avoid disturbance of the tapes. By doing this, I simplify the movement of the rack, under control of a cam for the purpose, is adequate to produce the desired result.

I also find that a single cam shaft may be employed to actuate the cam just mentioned, 7

. Specification of Letters fatent.

I find that a simply tilting a efficiency of the same.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawlngs forming a part of this specifica;

tion, and in which like letters indicate like parts.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan of the feed mechanism as a whole.- Fig. 2 is'a vertical section, on the line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrow, and

. Patented June 8, 1915. Application filed April 1, 1914. Serial No. 828,703.

'erally, for the purpose of improving the 7 showing the parts as they appearwhen the v forward or lower edge of the composite rack occupies its lowermost position. Fig. 3 is a section, on the line 8 -8 of Fig.1, looking'in the direction of the arrow, and showing the I various parts as they appear when the forward edge of the composite rack is raised to the upper limit of its travel. Fig. 4 is a detail view, showing in fragmentary elevation a part of the cam mechanism employed.

Two frame members, upon opposite sides of the press, are shown-at 5, and the side bars appear at 6, the latter being connected tothe frame members '5 by pivot pins 7. A

revoluble shaft 8 is journaled in the frame members 5, and mounted rigidly upon this.

shaft is a driving roller 9. Agear wheel 10 is mounted rigidly upon the shaft 8, and

meshes with a larger gearwheel 11, the lat-- ter being carried by a camshaft 12, and revoluble with the latter. rMounted rigidly upon the cam shaft 12 and disposed adjacent the ends thereof are two cams 13 and 14:.

A cam roller '15 rests'against the cam '14, and is revolublymounted upon an arm 16. This arm is secured rigidly upon a'rocking" shaft 17, the latter being 'journ'aled in the side bars 6. A number of slats 18, collectively forming a rack, are severally mounted upon arms 19, and-secured thereto by screws 20. Each arm 19 is secured rigidly to the rocking shaft 17 so that a gentlerocking movement of this, shaft is adapted to cause the front edge of the rack to be raised and lowered to a slight extent.

The side bars 6 are provided with endportions 21, 22, which extend inwardly and toward the left according to Fig. 2.

An arm 22 is secured rigidly upon the rocking shaft 17. Extending upwardly from this shaft is an arm 23, and connected with this arm is a rod 24 extending in the general direction of the frame work. This rod at its front end is pivotally connected to an arm 25; The arm last mentioned is secured rigidly upon a rocking shaft 26, the latter being journaled in the side bars 6.

The shaft 26 carries a pair of arm sections 27 secured rigidly upon it. Two other arm sections 28 are connected with the arm sections 27 by pivot pins 30. Two leaf springs 31, carried by the arm sections 27, engage the arm sections 28. A pair of feed wheels 29 are carried by the arm sections 28, and are adapted to be raised and lowered in accordance with rocking movements of the shaft 26.

The feed roller is shown at 32, and is di- 7 rectly below the feed wheels 29. This feed 20 roller is mounted rigidly upon a shaft 33, the latter being journaled in the side bars 6. Mounted rigidly upon the shaft 33 is a worm wheel 34, and meshing with this worm wheel is a worm 35, carried by a worm shaft 37 the latter being journaled in bearings 36. The worm shaft 37 carries a bevel gear 38, which meshes with another bevel gear 39. The bevel gear last mentioned is mounted rigidly upon a revoluble shaft 40. This shaft carries a number of tape Wheels 41 secured rigidly upon it. Engaging these tape wheels are a number of endless tapes 42, which also engage the driving roller 9.

At 43 and 45 are board sections, and between these board sections extends the upper portion of the feed roller 32. The board section 43 is supported by a cross bar 44. The boardsection 45 engages a number of spring fingers 46 over which the sheet passes 40 during its travel. These spring fingers are supported by a cross bar 47.

Integral with the arm 23 is a somewhat longer arm 48 extending directly downward from the shaft 17, and carrying a cam 46 roller 49. This cam roller rests against the cam 13. The arms 48 and 23 are loose relatively to the shaft 17, and are adapted to be rocked slightly under action of the cam 13. When thus rocked, the rod 24 is moved for- 50 ward and backward so that the arm 25 is rocked, and the feed wheels 29 are brought into and out of engagement with the feed roller 32.

The parts are so proportioned and ar ranged that when the forward edge of the composite rack is in its lowermost position, as indicated in Fig. 2, the feed wheels 29 are out of engagement with the feed roller 32. When, however, the forward edge of the composite rack is in its uppermost position, as indicated in Fig. 3, the feed wheels 29 are in. engagement with the feed roller. The various movable parts are also timed so that when a sheet of paper, resting upon the tapes 42, is carried forward so that the front edge of the paper reaches nearly to the tape wheels 41, the adjacent edge of the composite rack is raised. This causes a sudden checking of the speed of the sheet, which now travels slowly forward and is engaged by the feed wheels 29 and the feed roller 32. As the feed roller has a comparatively slow motion, owing to the action of the worm gearing which controls it, the paper is caused to move slowly along for an instant, until its front edge arrives in proximity to the impression cylinder. As the cylinder turns, the grippers (not shown) carried by it, next seize the paper and pull it rapidly forward in the manner well un derstood in this art. At the instant the front edge of the paper is thus engaged by the grippers, the feed wheels 29 are lifted out of engagement with the feed roller, so that the sheet can freely partake of the motion conferred upon it by the cylinder. At the proximate instant that the sheet is thus released by the upward movement of the feed wheels 29, the forward edge of the composite rack is lowered. The feed mechanism is now in its original position, and ready to receive another sheet. As the feed wheels 29 are raised from the feed roller 32, the sheet, having previously some little tendency to buckle owing to the sudden checking of its front edge, now automatically straightens out and is thus presented in good form to be engaged by the grippers.

The operation of my device will be readily understood from the foregoing description.

The press feeder passes the sheets one at a time into engagement with the tapes. The sheet is carried rapidly along over some distance, and then the forward edge of the rack rises, so that the frictional engagement of the paper thereupon causes the sudden checking of the bodily movement of the sheet. This slows down the motion of the sheet until the front edge thereof arrives in proximity to the impression cylinder, and after the front edge of the sheet is caught by the grippers the speed of the sheet is again quickened, as above described.

I do not limit myself to the precise construction shown, as variations may be made therein without departing from the spirit of my invention, the scope of which is commensurate with my claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. In a feeding mechanism for printing presses, the combination of a number of end less tapes for conveying a sheet to be printed, a rocking shaft disposed below said tapes, a plurality of slats interspersed alternatively between said tapes and rigidly connected with said rocking shaft, said slats eX- tending lengthwise and disposed intermediate the ends of said tapes, and means for automatically rocking said shaft in order to move the free ends and adjacent portions of said slats into frictional engagement with the sheet which is disposed upon said tapes, in order to check the speed thereof, and movable and stationary feed rollers for automatically moving said movable feed roller away from the stationary roller as said slats are lowered below the upper surfaces of said tapes.

2. In a feed mechanism for printing presses, the combination of a number of endless tapes for conveying a sheet to be printed, a rocking shaft disposed adjacent said tapes, a plurality of slats controllable by movements of said shaft and provided with 'portions disposed adjacent the path of travel of said sheet but normally a little out of said path, an arm mounted rigidly upon said rocking shaft in order to actuate the same so as to bring the ends of said slats into frictional engagement with said sheet and thus check the speed thereof, a cam for actuating said arm, a cam shaft carryingsaid cam, a second cam carried by said cam shaft, an arm controllable by movements of said second cam, a rod connected with said last mentioned arm, and feed wheels controllable by said rod and adapted to engage and disengage said sheet.

' 8. In a feed mechanism for printing presses, the combination of a plurality of movable tapes for carrying a sheet to be printed, a feed roller disposed adjacent said tapes and extending in a direction crossing the length thereof, said feed roller having a speed of rotation slow as compared with the speed of travel of said tapes, a rocking shaft disposed adjacent said feed wheel, a plurality of arms mounted rigidly upon said rocking shaft, feed wheels carried by said arms, another rocking shaft disposed adjacent said tapes, a plurality of slats carried by said last mentioned rocking shaft and together constituting a rack, said slats being normally out of the path of travel of said sheet, and mechanism common to said last mentioned rocking shaft and said feed wheels for shifting said slats relatively to said tapes and for shifting said feed wheels relatively to said feed roller.

4:. In a feeding mechanism-for printing presses, the combination of a number of traveling members for conveyingv a sheet to be printed, a rocking shaft disposed adjacent said traveling members, a composite rack secured rigidly to said rocking shaft so that when said shaft is-rocked the portion of said rack farthest away from said shaft moves through a longer are than portions disposed adjacent said shaft, means for rocking said shaft in order to bring said first mentioned portion of said rack into frictional engagement with said sheet'so as to check the speed of travel of saidsheet, a feed roller disposed adjacentthe pathvof travel of said sheet, and feed wheels connected in positive working relation to said shaft and movable bodily in relation to said feed roller. Y

Signed at New York borough of Manhattan in the county of New York and State of New York this th day of March A. D.

1914. CHARLES M. KNEPPLER;

Witnesses: p

GEORGE E. 6001:,

A. V. WALSH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner offatents, Washington, D. 0'.

eai 

